A study focusing on online fraud reveals that 27 percent of New York based customers who have visited an online auction website, including eBay and Amazon, have been victims of scams or have witnessed deceptive practice.

Fraud ranks highest in the top of complaints reported by online auction users who live in New York. 11 percent of customers involved in the study have stated that they never received the goods they bid on, while 7 percent of them claim they received their goods but they were not in such a good condition. Another 7 percent have received a product which was much cheaper than the one they actually bid on and won.
The majority of New Yorkers use eBay (52 percent of survey respondents; of them 32 percent were scammed), while 45 percent turn to Amazon and 21 percent visit Overstock.
As a result of experiences related to auction fraud, 40 percent of those involved in the study are determined to do more research on sellers before bidding, while 12 percent have decided to stop bidding on auction websites. Almost 20 percent have expressed their intention to avoid buying certain types of items on auction sites. The percentage was even higher (31 percent) for those aged between 18-24 and 25-34.
When finding out they had been victims of online auction fraud, over 50 percent contacted the seller in order to solve the problem, while 40 percent made a formal complaint to PayPal. Over 25 percent preferred to send negative feedback to the seller.
The study was conducted by Consumer Reports WebWatch, a division of the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.